


Q Knew James’ Voice

by LivetoDream333 (orphan_account)



Series: Double-O Drabbles [18]
Category: James Bond (Craig movies)
Genre: Angst, Hurt/Comfort, James doesn't know how to help, James tortured Q, Psychological Torture, Psychological Trauma, Q is a bamf, Torture, Triggers, and hurt, but he wants to
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-20
Updated: 2014-05-20
Packaged: 2018-01-25 20:30:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,831
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1661468
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/LivetoDream333
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When James and Q met, Q knew that he had met the agent before...when he had been tied to a chair and tortured for four days.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Q Knew James’ Voice

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know where I meant to go with this...but I wrote it anyway.  
> Possible triggers for tortures of all sorts. It's not too graphic after the first bit.

Q Knew James’ Voice

 

“A bloody big ship…” Q froze and squeezed his eyes shut, his hands forming fists. Q knew that voice, it haunted him sometimes in his nightmares…when he did manage to sleep. It had meant pain and anguish, it had been a test Q didn’t know he had to take…not in that way. James noticed that the man had tensed and he looked at him, but he didn’t know Q at all.

8Four Months Earlier8

“I have an assignment for you, Bond.” M said simply, looking up at James.

“What do you need?”

“I need you to interrogate someone for me. Use whatever tactics you wish so long as he doesn’t die.”

“Who am I interrogating?”

“That’s not for you to know now, you will not see his face, you will simply ask him the questions I give you and get him to answer you within four days.”

“We have a time limit?”

“Yes, because after that, you’re heading to Istanbul.”

“Lovely this time of year.” James sighed. “What has he done?”

“That’s for us to know James, if you are that curious, when this is over, I’ll tell you. This is a job where you can’t go in knowingly, you have to trust me.”

“Who knows about this?”

“Myself and Tanner.” M stated.

“Alright,” James sighed, “where is he?”

“Isolation…second room.” M told him. “And Bond?”

“Yes, ma’am?”

“Don’t break his fingers…” It was a curious request, but James nodded, walking away.

800Q8

James looked through the window and saw a man bound to a chair. His head was covered in a black sack of some kind, cinched around his neck by drawstrings and tied tightly. He was thin, stripped down to his pants, and pale…God was he pale. James wondered if he had any meat on his bones at all. Surprisingly, his breathing was steady and calm, in spite of being chained down to a chair in a cold room with a bag over his head. James looked him up and down before grabbing a bag and opening the door. The man’s head turned a fraction, in the direction of the door. James watched him as he moved, but the man in the chair didn’t follow him, he was listening for the door to close. What for? He already knew where the door was.

 _Deadbolt…electronic entrance, somewhat professional kidnappers… Can be opened if I ever get loose…_ Gabriel thought to himself. He stopped focusing on the door and focused on the presence in the room, behind him…very close behind him. Gabriel could feel the heat from their body…it was a very pleasant warmth, but Gabriel knew it couldn’t last.

“What do you know about MI6?” James asked. The smooth breathing of the man faltered, he took a deep breath, just one and then began to breathe normally again. Relaxing, trying to control himself. “What have you learned?”

Silence. Even breathing. James knew the pattern. Four seconds in, four held, four out, four still, four seconds in… He was breathing tactically, which meant he was trained in some manner. What sort of skinny man would be trained in that area? Someone skilled with technology rather than action…but still…someone who had information they shouldn’t.

James undid his bindings, keeping a knife pressed to the man’s navel before he nearly suspended him from the ceiling by his arms, his feet barely touching the ground. His breathing was still even. James changed that, moving to stand in front of him, the target spot was easy to see on the bony man, there was really no skin on him to hope to protect him. James managed to slip a finger behind the man’s sternum and pull.

A whimper, a gasp, and an instant flight response.

James hated that pressure point himself…but was surprised that the man remained so quiet. “I don’t like playing games, I don’t have the time for it…so I think we’d get along a lot better if you started talking.” James said, tugging again.

He expected another whimper…but all he got was steady breathing. This man was trained really well to be able to calm himself with someone’s finger tugging on their sternum. James released him and took a small step back.

“I have a few questions… I want to know what you know about MI6, about their Q-branch, and about their Double-O section… Start shouting out answers if you feel inspired. I won’t ask again.” James never had to ask again.

At the end of the first day, James left the man in his chair, chained up, one broken foot a broken rib and strategically placed bruises in the most painful and sensitive spots of the body. But the man was still breathing somewhat calmly, holding himself together… He hadn’t done much else but whimper and breathe.

James had to give the man credit…for having his feet and body beaten with a pipe he was very calm… James knew he’d have to step up his game, find a new way to shatter him. He obviously had safety in his mind, so James determined that he would have to break his mind, rather than his body.

800Q8

The second day, James attacked the man’s mind. Waterboarding was first on the list. This got a response, screaming and struggling, gagging and jerking at his bonds. James only asked once…only once, but the man never said an intelligible word. Nothing but screams came from him. James raised his eyebrows, his body was broken and soaked. He was shaking, trembling, and James could see the signs that he was crying, even without being able to see his face. James turned the air conditioner on in the room and left, letting the man go cold in his cell.

800Q8

The third day James found the man shaking uncontrollably, his fingertips were turning blue. That’s when James started in on him again, burning his skin and beating him within a millimeter of his life. The man screamed himself hoarse. “S-stop…p-please.” A quiet voice, broken, twisted, and mangled barely got out.

“Answer my questions and I’ll stop.” James heard a single, weak sob, a small whimper, and then the man’s body straightened up as much as it could in its damaged state. “Your loss.” James stated, starting in on him again.

800Q8

By the end of the last day the man was broken and whimpering, but he didn’t say a word. James had broken his body, but his mind had somehow survived the process. James was shocked, not many lasted two days with him, let alone four without confessing everything they knew. He walked out of the room and left the man alone before walking up to M. “What did he do?”

“If he lives, he got promoted.” M commented. “Have to know who to trust. Is he still alive?”

“Barely, might need a month or two to get back on his feet.”

“Lovely. I’m sending you to Istanbul with Ronson, I need you to look this over.” M said, handing him a file.

“Yes, ma’am.”

8Two Months After Skyfall8

“Q?” James noted that Q’s whole body tensed and that he jumped at his voice. “Why do you do that?”

“Do what, 007?” Q asked, turning to look at James evenly, calmly.

“You jump…when you hear my voice.” James commented.

“Well, I guess I’m jumpy.” Q shrugged. “What do you need?”

“You’re not jumpy, it’s just me… Why?”

“Leave it, Bond. What do you need?” Q asked, his tone a little bit stiff.

“You know, I trust you an awful lot—with my life, in fact—so it sort of bothers me that you don’t seem to trust me.”

“It’s nothing, you didn’t know—“ Q cut himself off. “I trust you…I just—”

“Oh…” James said, suddenly understanding the situation. Understanding that the man he had tortured, the man he had broken was standing in front of him. The man he’d broken had nearly given up his job for him, had broken the law for him. “I’m sorry.”

“You didn’t know… Hell, I didn’t even see it coming. They showed up at my house, dragged me out…didn’t even know where I was. Didn’t know what had really happened until I heard your voice. They were testing me.”

“I—”

“You were following orders. I understand. It’s alright. I’m getting better.”

“I nearly killed you.”

“Well, I’m feistier than people give me credit for. I think I’m the only person who’s ever lived through your torture, so, there’s that.”

“People underestimate you.”

“I know it better than anyone else.”

“Q…” James didn’t know what to say. He didn’t know what else to do but pull the man into a hug. “I won’t hurt you, you know that don’t you?”

“Yes… I can’t help it.”

“Sh… I’m not going to hurt you. You have to trust me, okay? I won’t hurt you again, I promise.” James soothed. He couldn’t imagine how much stress Q must be under every time he spoke to him. Not only had Q suffered through the tortures James had inflicted on him, but now he was helping his torturer all of the time, listening to the same voice that had been the only thing he’d heard during his tortures. “I don’t know how to fix this…but I want to try…” James said, not knowing what to do. He couldn’t stand the fact that the man that protected him and got him out of tough situations had been so destroyed by him. “God, you’re so strong.”

Q was right in that he was the only person to survive James’ tortures. And every time they spoke Q must be thrown back into the same damn tortures all over again. It took James a moment to realize that Q was shaking against him, sobbing.

“Q, I’m sorry—” James started pulling away quickly.

“Don’t—please.” Q cried, grabbing onto James’ jacket. James didn’t speak, but he wrapped his arms around Q, keeping him close.

“Is there any way I can…that this can be fixed…that I can earn your trust?”

“Wear a bell?” Q suggested in-between his tears. This was good, a feeling other than torture associated with James’ voice, kindness rather than pain.

“If that would help.” James smiled gently, holding Q close as he slowly stopped sobbing.

The next time James entered Q-branch, there was a faint ringing sound in the air. Curiously Q looked around the room and saw James approaching and couldn’t help but laugh. James didn’t act like anything was different, but Q smiled and uttered a quiet ‘thank you’ before he began to hand over equipment. James was a little bit more sensitive with how he approached his Quartermaster and the tone of voice he used around him and whenever he entered Q-branch, he wore the bell, making sure Q wasn’t left in the darkness, in silence waiting for an unexpected approach.

**Author's Note:**

> Much Love.


End file.
